Selling your home is one of the most stressful things you’ll ever go through and one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make. However, there’s a lot more to selling your home than just sticking a sign out in the front yard. Most likely, your home will need a little work before it is perfect.

Therefore, you’ll have to decide whether you need to take care of home improvement issues yourself or, to sell with the expectation that the buyer will be the one to do so. We put together a few pros and cons to doing it each way to make your decision a little easier.

Do The Improvements Yourself

Choosing to complete needed improvements yourself means that you will likely get a higher sales price for your home. In addition, with less work to do, it opens up your home to more buyers than one that is a fixer-upper does. Selling will usually be faster and closing more likely to go smoothly.

On the other hand, chances are good that you will not get the full value you put into those improvements at the closing table. In addition, when you are moving, money may be tight making this an even more difficult proposition.

Sell It As A Fixer Upper

The main benefit of selling your home as a fixer-upper is that you will not have to put that money in up front. If you are in a difficult financial situation or selling your home at a loss, this may be necessary. Additionally, you aren’t the one that has to deal with the contractors and calling around to get quotes on all of the work.

One of the downfalls to selling your home as a fixer-upper is that you’ll likely get a lower price and some buyers won’t even come out and check out your house if they think there is too much work that needs to be done. Plus, depending on the type of work that needs to be done, you may wind up in a pickle during the inspection process. Certain problems can prevent lenders from closing on the deal. You often find the closing process is slower and fraught with more concerns.

The reality is, it really depends on whether doing the improvement yourself or selling it as a fixer-upper is the right choice. Discuss your concerns and speak honestly about your financial picture with your trusted real estate professional and perhaps you will have a better idea of which of these options is the smart choice for your situation.

When it comes to selling your home, there can be a lot of options on the market, and nothing is quite so competitive as having your house listed right alongside the home of your neighbor. If you’re struggling with how to highlight your home to potential homebuyers, here are some things you can do to ensure it gets the attention it deserves.

Engage All The Marketing Options

Many people prefer their real estate agent to take care of the heavy lifting when it comes to selling a home, but there’s no reason you can’t go beyond the typical measures to really get potential homebuyers interested. Instead of leaving it up to a website or a sign on the street, send out flyers to all of your neighbors and utilize social media as a resource for getting the word out. You may also want to create a website for your home that will highlight its features in the best light.

Emphasize The Special Details

You may not think that the small things matter when it comes to selling your home, but the little details add up and they can actually make your home quite memorable to someone who’s seen a lot of open houses. Whether you’ve installed them or they were there already, your house probably has a special feature like brightly cultured kitchen tiles or an interesting light fixture; just ensure it’s effectively displayed and your home will stand out from the pack!

Clean Up The Curb

It’s possible that you have a stunning panoramic shot of your home from the outside, but if your house looks nothing like this when potential homebuyers arrive they’ll immediately be reconsidering the visit. Instead of leaving this to chance, make sure that you’ve done any minor repairs to the exterior of the house, cleaned up the lawn and organized everything so nothing looks messy or disheveled from the street. Your exterior will provide the initial impression, and nothing will make your home stand out from your neighbors like an immaculate facade.

It can be a struggle to know how to best display your house so it stands out, but by organizing the exterior and highlighting your home’s special features, you may be on your way to an ideal offer. If you’re getting ready to put your home on the market, contact your local real estate professional for more information.

Many home owners putting up their home for sale on the market don’t have a lot of available cash to spruce it up. While staging houses is a definite plus, it can cost a fair amount of money, as do many of the other suggested “to-dos.” Here are a few inexpensive and easy ways to make your home look more inviting to buyers.

Put Up Your Personal Stuff

Not every buyer looking at a home for sale appreciates the fact that someone still lives there. Putting away the your personal things can help the buyers’ see themselves in the home.

You will want to put your pet’s things (toys, litter box, bowls) away and out of sight. The same goes for your medications, toothbrushes and toilet accessories.

Clean up your kids’ rooms and put away any toys around the house. Minimize or put away knick-knacks and personal pictures. Remember that you want the buyer to imagine themselves in the home.

Create More Space

Small, closed-in spaces are major turnoffs for buyers. Create the illusion of more space by putting up out-of-season clothes or clothes you don’t wear very often to make your closets look bigger. A good way to make your bedrooms look bigger is by taking one piece of furniture out of each bedroom.

Packing up the small appliances in your kitchen is a great way to make your countertops seem larger. You can also take out all but four chairs in your dining room, as well as extra table leaves to give that illusion of space.

Touch On The Trends

Chances are that some of the buyers are paying attention to celebrity trends. Feng shui is a big one, and you can do your part with just a few touches like adding a fresh bowl of fruit to the kitchen. Put a comfortable couch or chair on the east side of your living room or den. Place a green welcome mat on your porch to symbolize opportunity. Go through your house and get rid of reds.

Whether you see or feel a difference doesn’t matter. Keep in mind that you’re trying to appeal to potential buyers of your home, not make the home more livable for you. If it helps, pretend that you’re the buyer, seeing the house for the first time.

If you’re trying to get your home ready to sell, I can help. Get in touch with me for more information.